DESCRIPTION OF THE ROSE. 107 



The Moss Rose, impregnated with various ever-blooming 

 varieties, has borne hybrids partially retaining the mossy 

 stem and calyx, with a tendency more or less manifest to 

 bloom in the autumn. Hence the group of the Perpetual 

 Moss, a few only of whose members deserve the name. 



It is evident, that, by continuing the process of hybrid- 

 izing, hybrids may be mixed with hybrids, till the blood 

 of half a score of the original races is mingled in one 

 plant. This, in some cases, is, without doubt, actually the 

 case; and this bastard progeny must, of necessity, be 

 classified rather by its visible characteristics than by its 

 parentage. Thus a host of ever-blooming hybrids, which 

 are neither Noisette nor Bourbon nor Perpetual Moss, 

 have been cast into one grand group, under the compre- 

 hensive title of Hybrid Perpetuals. Whence have they 

 sprung? What has been their parentage ? The question 

 is easier asked than answered : for as, in a great nation of 

 the West, one may discern the lineaments and hear the 

 accents of diverse commingled races ; so here we may trace 

 the features of many and various families of Indian or 

 Siberian, Chinese or European, extraction. The Hybrid 

 Perpetuals, however, inherit their remontant character 

 chiefly from Rosa Indica, the China or Tea Rose, and, 

 in a far less degree, from the Damask Perpetual. An infu- 



